Year in review: Troy University

Published 7:34 pm Thursday, December 30, 2010

For some Troy University sports, the script was the same in 2010.

While for others, it was an entirely different story all together.

In both regards, Troy continued to show why it has the program equipped to win championships.

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The first championship came relatively early on in the year, and from a team that had been getting closer and closer to one.

For the men’s basketball program, the story was similar to seasons past.

Since joining the Sun Belt back in 2005, the Trojans finished with a regular season conference championship.

And with the title, Troy clinched an NIT berth for the first time since 2004, when it had won a Atlantic Sun regular season conference championship.

The second Troy title came a little more than a month later, on a different kind of court.

As the basketball conference championship was the first for the men’s team, the same could be said for the Troy men’s tennis team when they won the Sun Belt Conference tournament in April, defeating No. 1 seed Denver.

The win clinched the first ever NCAA Tournament for the program in the process.

Because of the team’s efforts, head coach Eric Hayes was named the conference’s Coach of the Year.

Another Sun Belt crown that almost was, came a month later on the baseball diamond.

The Troy baseball team advanced all the way to the conference title game, thanks to several thrilling victories, however, fell short to FIU.

The Trojans set themselves up for a good run at the end of the season thanks to an 18-6 finish.

Last but not least, the final title came from a team that has done nothing but win titles for the last half-decade.

The Troy football team entered the 2010 season with many fresh faces, but the end result was still the same, as the Trojans used the mantra ‘Drive for Five’ to help win their fifth-straight conference championship.

Troy can now add its name to a list that includes, BYU, Southern California, Ohio State, Alabama and Florida State, as the only programs ever to win or share a conference title five years in a row.

And with that conference win, the Trojans earned a right to compete in its fifth bowl game in seven seasons.

It was in the 2010 New Orleans Bowl, that Troy would get its second ever postseason win, thanks to a 48-21 win over the Ohio Bobcats.